Endangered great bustard hunted down in central Turkey

An endangered species, a great bustard that had been treated and released to nature was killed by a hunter merely weeks later. The species hadn't been spotted in Turkey for seven years.

Duvar English

An endangered species, a great bustard, that emerged in the Central Anatolian province of Yozgat on Oct. 20 after seven years of no sightings was treated and released, only to be hunted down weeks later. 

Released some 14 days ago by the local Nature Protection Directorate, the bird was found dead in a field when a photographer that was following it went to the source of the radio frequencies it sent out for four days. 

"I can't possibly express my grief. We try to keep these unique animals alive, but a hunter doesn't think twice to kill them," said a man named Hakan Kahraman who treated the bird initially. 

Kahraman said that the bird's appearance had been "a miracle."

Two hashtags meaning "hunting is murder" and "ban hunting" became trending topics in Turkey on Twitter following the bird's death. 

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